美国范德比尔特大学Mariana X. Byndloss、加州大学达拉斯分校Andreas J. Bäumler等研究人员合作发现，高脂饮食引起的结肠细胞功能障碍加剧微生物群产生的氧化三甲胺。该研究于2021年8月13日发表于国际一流学术期刊《科学》。

使用饮食诱导的肥胖小鼠模型，研究人员表明，长期暴露于高脂肪饮食，通过改变肠道上皮的生理结构，使大肠杆菌的胆碱分解作用升级。高脂肪饮食损害了结肠上皮细胞中线粒体的生物能量，增加了腔内氧气和硝酸盐的生物利用率，从而加剧了大肠杆菌呼吸依赖性的胆碱分解作用。反过来，大肠杆菌的胆碱分解作用增加了循环中的氧化三甲胺水平，这是一种由肠道微生物群产生的潜在有害代谢物。

据介绍，西式的高脂肪饮食会促进心血管疾病，部分原因是它富含胆碱，而胆碱会被肠道微生物群转化为三甲胺。然而，饮食诱导的肠道生理学变化是否能改变微生物群的代谢能力仍是未知数。

附：英文原文

Title: High-fat diet–induced colonocyte dysfunction escalates microbiota-derived trimethylamine N-oxide

Author: Woongjae Yoo, Jacob K. Zieba, Nora J. Foegeding, Teresa P. Torres, Catherine D. Shelton, Nicolas G. Shealy, Austin J. Byndloss, Stephanie A. Cevallos, Erik Gertz, Connor R. Tiffany, Julia D. Thomas, Yael Litvak, Henry Nguyen, Erin E. Olsan, Brian J. Bennett, Jeffrey C. Rathmell, Amy S. Major, Andreas J. Bumler, Mariana X. Byndloss

Issue&Volume: 2021/08/13

Abstract: A Western-style, high-fat diet promotes cardiovascular disease, in part because it is rich in choline, which is converted to trimethylamine (TMA) by the gut microbiota. However, whether diet-induced changes in intestinal physiology can alter the metabolic capacity of the microbiota remains unknown. Using a mouse model of diet-induced obesity, we show that chronic exposure to a high-fat diet escalates Escherichia coli choline catabolism by altering intestinal epithelial physiology. A high-fat diet impaired the bioenergetics of mitochondria in the colonic epithelium to increase the luminal bioavailability of oxygen and nitrate, thereby intensifying respiration-dependent choline catabolism of E. coli. In turn, E. coli choline catabolism increased levels of circulating trimethlamine N-oxide, which is a potentially harmful metabolite generated by gut microbiota.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aba3683

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/373/6556/813